Photos: Canelo bests Scull to regain undisputed title, Crawford fight confirmed

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez became a two-time undisputed champion, defeating William Scull on May 3 (ET), live from ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Mexican boxing star once again collected all four major belts at 168 lbs, retaining his unified WBA, WBC, and WBO titles, and regaining the IBF strap, dethroning his opponent from Cuba along the way.

The scheduled 12-round super middleweight bout went the full distance. Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) took the victory over Scull (23-1, 9 KOs) by unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109.

In his next fight, scheduled for September 12 in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez is set to face Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs). The unbeaten two-division undisputed champion of Omaha, NE, entered the ring, and the two went face-to-face for the first time.

The Canelo vs Crawford showdown is set to be the first TKO boxing event co-promoted by UFC CEO Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, Saudi Arabia’s Minister and Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, who announced it on social media.

Badou Jack retains title against Noel Mikaelian

In the co-feature to Canelo vs Scull, Badou Jack (29-3-3, 17 KOs) took a majority decision over Noel Mikaelian (27-3, 12 KOs) to retain his WBC cruiserweight title. The scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 115-113.

Sweden’s three-division champion Jack was reinstated as champion in late 2024 after Armenia’s former champion Mikaelian was declared “champion in recess” due to inactivity. Mikaelian took the fight, replacing Jack’s originally scheduled opponent, Ryan Rozicki, who withdrew due to injury.

Jaime Munguia takes revenge on Bruno Surace

Among other Canelo vs Scull results, Mexico’s Jaime Munguia (45-2, 35 KOs) took revenge on Bruno Surace (26-1-2, 5 KOs) of France by unanimous decision at super middleweight. The judges scored the 12-round fight 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111.

With the victory, former super welterweight champion Munguia rebounded from a six-round knockout defeat in their first fight in late 2024. Former European middleweight champion Surace recorded his first defeat.

Efe Ajagba vs Martin Bakole ends in draw

In the main card opener, Efe Ajagba (20-1-1, 14 KOs) of Nigeria and Martin Bakole (21-2-1, 16 KOs) of Congo fought to a majority draw. After 10 rounds at heavyweight, two judges scored the fight 95-95, while one judge scored it 96-94 in favor of Ajagba.

On Canelo vs Scull prelims

Atop the prelims, Brayan Leon (7-0, 6 KOs) of Cuba defeated Aaron Rocha Guerrero (11-4-1, 7 KOs) of Mexico via 60-54 points decision after six rounds at light heavyweight. In the fourth round, Leon landed a knockdown.

Richard Riakporhe (18-1, 14 KOs) of London dropped Argentina’s Kevin Nicolas Espindola (9-10, 4 KOs) in the fourth round en route to victory by RTD. Espindola’s corner pulled their fighter before the start of the fifth round. Riakporhe bounced back from a unanimous decision defeat to Chris Billam-Smith last June, while Espindola had his two-fight winning streak snapped.

Paris 2024 Silver medalist Marco Verde (1-0, 1 KO) successfully debuted as a pro, dropping Michel Galvan Polina (4-6-3, 2 KOs) twice on his way to victory by TKO. The all-Mexican matchup was halted at 1:34 into the opening round.

Kicking off the action, unbeaten local Mohammed Alakel (4-0) defeated Alexander Morales (6-14-5, 2 KOs) via a 60-54 points decision in a six-rounder at lightweight.